Institute for the Gifted
by JadeDragon012
Summary: Jade and Nico are alike, but also very different. What happens when the two meet at the Institute for the Gifted, a school where kids learn how to use their special gifts. Will Jade ever open up, will Nico help her see that not everyone wants to hurt her, and who the heck is AJ and why is he so important. This is an AU, and can be seen as a sort of X-Men: Evolution crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys... I know I've been MIA for a while and I'm sorry. I really have no excuse for that beside just general business and school drama that shouldn't even involve me but I somehow get dragged into. Anyway, I've decided to discontinue my other two stories because they really don't pertain any interest to me anymore, and plus when i reread them my first immediate thoughts were "WTF was I thinking? Was I high?". So I apologize to any of you guys who wanted me to continue those stories, but here's a new one which I wrote, not sure what to think of it myself, it's my first AU and in the 3rd person unlike my last fics. I'd love to hear from you guys, but I do ask if you decide you want to go off on a tangent about my writing being horrible, at least give me a reason. Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I in no way own PJO, and if you think this sounds like X-Men, that's probably because that's what influenced this, and i don't own them either.**

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Freak, weirdo, abomination, monster, queer, and witch. These were all things Jade had been called, sure her mother had done her best to shield her, but what good was it now that she was dead. She was killed trying to protect her only daughter, the witch of Coach Drive, who hadn't hurt anything in her life, well not anyone who didn't deserve it. When she turned 13 her 'gift' had shown itself, causing her dog to turn into a white stallion after reading the story of King Arthur. When she was 14 her best friend found out because she had accidentally cursed her cheating boyfriend, but Aisling didn't care. At the age of 15 her other friends found out, and they didn't care either, in fact, they enjoyed having a witch for a friend, 'Traveling is much more fun her way' they had said. But at 16, the entire town found out, they figured out she was one of them, one of the gifted, not everyone knew her like her friends did so they feared her and her abilities, trying to chase her out of town. And now, 6 months after the town's discovery, on Jade's 17th birthday, Macey Darcy was dead, and her daughter, the town witch, was being sent to a school called the Institute for the 'gifted'.

Nico di Angelo had lived at the Institute for the Gifted since he was 6 when his father and mother died. 6 years later his sister Bianca died in a car crash leaving him alone, unloved, and lost in the hellhole, he mourned his sister even through his hatred for her early passing. After that the 12 year old stopped talking to everyone, all he'd do is not at others, he was the odd one out even here in this 'safe place', his abilities were one of a kind, like a dark god had sired him. Everyone soon began to fear the boy the shadows clung to, that is, until Percy came along, Percy was the first to try to talk to him in 3 years. The then 15 year old had been so out of touch with other people that he felt awkward even saying simple things like 'Hi' or 'What's up', but Percy got him out of his shell. Then came Annabeth 6 months later, followed by Thalia, Jason, and Lou Ellen, Percy befriended the 4 quickly, but Nico was still hard on trusting others, but he soon warmed up to the 4 and not soon after Percy and Annabeth started dating.

Lou Ellen had become his best friend besides Percy, she too had an odd power, she could use small amounts of magic as long as she had a Grimoire, a rare, but not unheard of gift, unlike Nico's. The punk girl had many different colored streaks in her hair, and several piercings, her blue-green eyes hard from the prejudices she had faced in her small southern town. Annabeth was a pretty girl with honey blonde hair and striking grey eyes, her 'gift' was Innate Combat , or supernatural hand to hand combat skills, she was also very good at planning attack and defense strategies, along with being the smartest student at the Institute. Percy had wild blue-black hair and mesmerizing sea-green eyes, his gift was water generation, meaning he could control all things liquid, he could even talk to some sea creatures, create hurricanes and earthquakes, and heal himself with water, Nico's reason for constantly calling him Aquaman 2.0. Jason and Thalia had the same abilities, with one slight difference while both could control lightning and create storms; Jason could manipulate the air around him and 'fly' if he concentrates hard enough. If you saw the two you'd never dream that they were siblings, Jason has blonde hair while Thalia has midnight black hair, Jason is tan and Thalia is a bit on the paler side, Thalia enjoyed punk clothes like Lou Ellen and Nico while Jason preferred 'normal' clothes, the only thing they had in common were their eyes, which were both a startling sky blue color that looked like lightning could cross them at any minute.

The group was sitting outside at a picnic table while the other kids watched them in a mixture of curiosity and fear. Nico was wearing his usual black attire, black converse, black t-shirt, black sweatshirt, and black jeans, Percy always wondered how the boy didn't roast alive in all that black but he claimed heat didn't bother him. The pale dark haired boy was twisting his skull ring around on his finger nervously; it was the only thing he had left of Bianca. Thalia and Annabeth were gossiping about what the Stolls had found out using their sneaking abilities.

"Lou, did you hear about the new kids coming in today?" Thalia asked

Lou shook her head "Why should I care, they're just going to be another flier, or laser vision, or strength, Chiron said we're the only unusual abilities in the world."

"That's not what the Stolls said… they snuck into the office using their chameleon abilities and found their files on Chiron's desk. They said the girl has Charmspeak and can see into the future if she uses her dagger, and the boy can manipulate and create fire as well as being fireproof and a natural mechanic." Annabeth grinned

"Wait… correct my math… but that's only two isn't it? I thought there were three new kids coming in." Percy said suddenly interested

Thalia smirked "They couldn't find the third kid's file… well they did, but it was empty, all they know is that it's a 17 year old girl named Jadalyn Darcy. But when Chiron found them looking at the file he freaked out and put them on kitchen duty for a month."

Nico rolled his eyes, every time a new kid came to The Institute Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Thalia went into freak out mode. They always hoped it'd be another one of them, the more powerful kids who have more than one ability or someone who had a rare ability like Lou Ellen.

"Well Nico?" Thalia said knocking him out of his head

He looked at her confused, his head tilted slightly to the right like a puppy causing his dark shaggy hair to fall over his eyes.

Thalia sighed and shook her head "I asked what could be so important about this girl that the Stolls would get kitchen duty for looking through her file. Chiron usually doesn't care, he actually encourages the them to look at other students files sometimes."

Nico shrugged causing Percy to groan.

"Really Neeks, your picking TODAY as one of your silent days… there are new kids like us here for once."

Nico glared at him and grabbed his sketchbook from his messenger bag. He took his pencil and started scribbling furiously on the page, when he was done he showed it to Percy. The page read: _Don't call me Neeks, I told you before its NICO. And I really don't care about new kids, most of them run away from me anyway because they've been told to fear the 'Shadow Prince' or the 'King of Ghosts', what makes you think they'll be any different. They might befriend you but I'm content with the friends I have now, I don't need any more_.

Percy sighed "Nico, come on… don't be a Danny Downer. You never know, these two might surprise you."

Nico scowled and wrote something else in the book then showed it to Percy. _I KNOW you only used the name Danny because of that stupid Danny Phantom show on Nick all those years ago, and I'll have you know, the ghost joke is NOT appreciated. Do you know how HARD it is to tune out all the dead people whispering in my ear, it's like my life is that stupid Ghost Whisperer show or that Sixth Sense movie. Yes I see dead people, yes I try to help said dead people, no I do not like having the dead follow me everywhere a I go._ Percy rolled his eyes at the dark boy.

"Your starting to get paranoid, next thing we know you're going to be concocting conspiracy theories."

Nico abruptly stood up, stuffing the sketch pad in his bag and walked back to the dorms, flipping Percy off as he walked by.

The dorms at the Institute actually weren't bad; nothing at this place was rundown or cheap. The reasons being one, Professor Chiron was rich, and two, the government funded a lot of stuff here so that Chiron could teach these kids how to use their abilities without killing anyone. When Nico first arrived here at the age of 6 he hadn't known what his ability was, the only reason the staff here knew he was gifted is that Professor Chiron's supercomputer said he had an active X-gene or some crap like that. On his 11th birthday his gift revealed itself, he was just sitting under one of the many trees at Chiron's Institute when one of the older kids had come by. They enjoyed teasing Nico over his obsession with a card game called Mythomagic; Bianca had gotten him the one figurine he didn't have for his birthday, Hades, god of the Underworld. He didn't remember much besides the kid trying to steal the figurine from him, the next thing he knew he was sitting in Chiron's office with a kid he'd driven insane. For weeks afterward Chiron personally trained Nico to control his emotions, but ever since everyone had found out his powers were of darkness, death, and fear they tried to steer clear of him, besides his sister that is. Then she died the next year, they never found out what her ability was, Chiron assured him that it wasn't the same as his like it usually is with siblings that have an active X-gene.

He looked at the door across from his room, which was Bianca's old room; it'd been empty for 5 years now because nobody wanted to be that close to the 'Prince of Shadows'. He sighed and pushed open his door and walked into his bedroom, posters for various bands lined his walls, from Green Day, to Linkin' Park, to Three Days Grace. He collapsed onto his bed and just stared at the ceiling, he loved his friends, he really did, but they annoyed him sometimes. They didn't get what it was like, being the only person who can help the dead, wherever he went he could hear the voices whispering in his ear, begging the 'Ghost King' to help them. Wherever he looked he could see ghosts that had been confined on earth until their business was finished, ghosts from so many different time periods, Pilgrims, Indians, British soldiers, Civil War soldiers, murder victims, you name it they've come to Nico for help. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, the only kind of darkness others welcomed.

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**So before I go I just need to get something off my chest. We all know this is FANFICTION right, and to my understanding is that fanfiction is a story written by a fan of a movie, book, or TV show that in NO way pertains to the original, correct. Well my friend told me the other day that I should post one of my fics on KAW (Kingdoms at War) fanfiction forum, so I did. I posted this one to be exact, and what happened was some random jerk saying that i basically copied X-Men and that I was going to get sued after his "friend" at the Marvel company read it, even though I did, as all of us should, include a disclaimer. And then another guy told me to get my own characters, and i honestly had a nice laugh after that one, so I'm pretty sure some people do not know what a FANFICTION is. Both PJO and X-Men Evolution are on the list of fandoms on this website which means they must be okay with people writing stories based off of them, so I just have to say, before you read a fanfiction if your new to this site, or just some random jerk who gets off on threatening 13 year old girls with the possibility of being sued, understand what a fanfiction is first.**

**Peace out,**

**~JadeDragon12**


	2. Chapter 2

Jade looked at the two people next to her, they were her age, a boy and a girl. The girl was obviously of Native American decent and had choppy chocolate brown hair and color changing eyes like Jade's own. The boy on her other side was Latino, he was pretty short for a guy his age, only about 5'7" and had curly oil black hair and warm brown eyes. A girl stepped out of Chiron's office; she had long, dark, chestnut brown hair and green eyes, her skin was pale like Snow White's, in fact she reminded Jade of Snow White in appearance. A boy stepped out after her, he had light brown hair, blue eyes and a mischievous smile, and he was also pretty tall, like 6' 1" at least.

"Is there a Jade out here?" the girl asked

"That would be me…" Jade said getting up and shouldering her backpack

The girl smiled "Hi, I'm AnnaKate and this is my boyfriend Connor, Chiron asked us to take you to your room."

Jade eyed the two suspiciously "Uhhh… okay… I guess."

She followed the two down the Institute's many corridors, it didn't take much for her to figure out they were together, the way AnnaKate looked at him, and how he kept trying to grab her hand.

"So…" Connor said after his 5th failed attempt at taking his girlfriend's hand "What's your ability?"

Jade stiffened "Why does that matter?" she spat

"I-it doesn't… I was just wondering…" Connor said

AnnaKate stopped and looked at Jade "Ignore him… he just couldn't get Chiron to tell us what you could do so now he thinks you're super special."

"Chiron tells him about other's abilities?" Jade demanded

"Most kids here are very public with their abilities and Chiron sometimes tells his scouts, like Connor, what each kid's ability is in case they try to resist being brought here. But you came nice and calmly so he probably feels Connor doesn't need to know." She directed the last part at her boyfriend

"Scouts?"

"How about we get you to your room and then I'LL explain everything to you." AnnaKate suggested

Jade nodded still eying Connor warily and started following AnnaKate again. The farther they went the more the noises of people vanished until they stood in a soundless, empty corridor. The dorms here seemed abandoned, no light came from any of them, AnnaKate took a key from around her neck and opened a door on the left side of the hallway. Jade stepped in and looked around, the walls were bare and a silver color with ash wood flooring. There was nestled between a bookshelf and the wall with a black and silver bedspread, Jade threw her backpack onto it and sat in one of the recliners in the reading area.

"Okay, explain." She said looking at AnnaKate

AnnaKate sat next to Connor on the loveseat "What do you want to know?"

"What's a scout?"

"Well they're the kids here with abilities that make it easier to spy, sneak, and steal, like Connor and I. I can turn invisible and fly while Connor and his brother Travis have enhanced senses and awareness of others around them; they also have what we call Chameleon Skin, instead of turning invisible like I do they actually blend in with their environment."

Jade nodded "And what do they do?"

"Well we basically go out and get the kids that Chiron finds, most of them have parents that have died because of their ability in some way so sometimes they're resistant to come with us, sometimes using their gift against us. But sometimes we find a family that has a history of active X-genes and the parents are alive and send the kid with us willingly until they learn to control their gifts."

"What else do people do around here?"

"Well we have healers; they have powers that heal people who get hurt in training or Scouts who get hurt on assignment. And then we have the teachers, kids who stay after they master their gifts to help students with similar or the same ability learn how to use them properly. And of course we have the students, and then there are the kids who work with the government. And finally we have the teams, but they're the hardest to get into." AnnaKate counted off on her fingers

"What are the teams?" Jade asked confused

AnnaKate smiled "Well, they're basically the strongest the Institute has to offer, they help the police and the government to put away dangerous gifted people, the ones who never made it to the Institute and go around using their gift for their own gain. But you can't get onto any of the teams unless you have a rare power, more than one power, or an insanely powerful common power. The only common power to ever get onto a Team was Luke… but he left us for 'something better'." Her smile vanished at the mention of Luke

"Ok… so, what do you mean by 'rare' powers, isn't having the active X-gene rare enough?"

"Well… there are some kids, like Team Alpha, who have extremely rare powers, ones that don't pop up often, like Percy Jackson and his water generation, he can control anything that is water based and can also talk to sea animals, create hurricane and earthquakes and heal himself and others using water. Several abilities, all water and nature based, there aren't many water generators or animal understanders in the world ergo 'rare powers'."

Jade nodded and turned to Connor "I... I'm sorry I snapped at you… my gifts are a… um… sensitive subject…"

"Gifts?" Connor probed "As in more than one?"

Jade nodded "I'll make you a deal Connor, show me I can trust you and I'll tell you what my powers are."

Connor looked at her confused "How do I do that?"

Jade grinned "Give me your hand"

Connor obeyed and held out his hand, Jade took it in her own smaller one palm up. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small needle.

"You afraid of blood?" she asked

"I am!" AnnaKate squeaked

"Well… it's not going to be a lot of blood but you might want to look away."

AnnaKate did as Jade suggested and looked out the window at the woods. Jade took the needle and pricked Connor's middle finger. She pulled a piece of paper out of her sweatshirt's inner pocket and took the bloodstained needle, writing something on it in Latin. She crumpled the paper up and looked at the couple sitting across from her.

"You ready to see one of my abilities?" she asked

Connor and AnnaKate both nodded and looked at her expectantly. She looked at the paper ball in her hand and her currently hazel eyes turned glowing silver. The paper burst into blood red flame and floated off her palm, Connor and AnnaKate looked at it amazed.

"Connor Stoll, son of Hermes and Jane Stoll, younger brother of Travis Stoll… Species, gifted human." A voice from within the paper said

"Connor turned to Jade wide eyed "W-what… how does it know that?"

Jade rolled her eyes "The magic is reading your blood's DNA code; it will track your family like until it gets to the first of your ancestors who had the gift. I've been studying the lineage of my family to find out exactly when our X-gene awakened, now I'll study yours."

"First gifted ancestors, Gaea, Ouranus, Kronos, and Rhea, probability of awakened X-gene, 83%"

The paper extinguished and fell onto the table, Jade examined it carefully.

"Hmmmm…" she said

"Hmmm what? Is there something wrong with me? AM I GOING TO DIE!?" Connor yelped

"No… no, well you're going to get a broken arm in 3 months but other than that you're good. It's just that our first gifted ancestors are the same… I wonder…" Jade said distractedly

"Wait… what… how… you… huh?" Connor sputtered

"Could you leave now? And I'd appreciate it if you keep my ability a secret."

AnnaKate nodded and led a befuddled Connor from the room. Jade knew she was going straight to Chiron, she could hear the pale girl's thoughts very easily, she didn't have much of a mental will, she would be easy to control if it came to that. Suddenly the dam holding back the rest of the voices broke, there was a flood of thoughts from all the students and teachers rushing around in Jade's head. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, push all the voices out, she was almost there when she came upon a certain person's thoughts, except their head was filled with other's voices too.

When Jade became aware of herself again she hadn't realized how much time had passed. She had spent 2 hours exploring the other person's head. Unlike her the voices in their head seemed to know they were in there and were trying to talk to him, they called him Ghost King and Prince of Shadows. They seemed to be seeking his help with something, asking for penance and help 'moving on'. She wondered who this person could be sitting on her bed, why did the voices ask him for help, what was his power, how come the voices in her head weren't aware they were there? All these questions flew around in the blondes head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Can't believe I forgot this in the last chapter, but I sadly do not own the genius of PJO and most definitely am not in anyway affiliated with Linkin' Park**

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Nico was sitting at the picnic table with his friends once again, except this time they were joined by two of the new kids, Leo and Piper. They both had rare talents, Leo was a technopath along with having pyrokinesis, or the ability to control and generate fire, and being almost completely fireproof. Piper on the other hand had Charmspeak, a weaker version of a Sirens song, which hadn't been seen since the days of ancient Greece, and a weak kind of divination, but she still had very powerful talents. It had been two weeks since they'd arrived, and Jason had taken a special liking to Piper. The only thing that concerned Percy was that no one had seen the other new girl yet.

"What was she like?" he asked Leo

"Well first off, she was HOT man, like Aphrodite level looks I mean. But she didn't seem really talkative, she kind of just sat there until the brown haired girl and guy came out to get her." Leo said

Thalia's eyes sparked "Describe these people who picked her up."

"Ummm… the girl was pale… not as pale as Dahmer over there" he gestured to Nico who in turn scowled at him "But still pretty pale, she had dark brown almost black hair, freckles, and light green eyes. The guy was tan, maybe Jason's height and had light brown hair and blue eyes…"

"Stoll…" Annabeth said "Come on Thals, we have a prankster to go threaten."

Nico sighed "I don't see why you're all so obsessed with meeting this girl… she might just want to be left alone you know."

Thalia laughed "Nico when have we been known to leave someone alone, plus she's been here two weeks and none of us have seen her and NO ONE knows what her gift is."

Nico shook his head "Whatever… I just hope she's not an Omega for your sake if she wants to be left alone."

Leo interrupted whatever Thalia was going to retort "Actually, you don't have to go find that brunette guy… the new girl's right there."

He pointed to a big pine tree across the courtyard; a girl with dirty blonde hair that glinted like bronze in the Sun sat at its base. She was wearing denim short shorts and a blue and white tank-top, something on her right hand glinted in the sunlight, and she had headphones in and was reading a book. Thalia and Annabeth grinned and made their way over to her; Nico watched them from his seat at the table. Thalia introduced them to the girl who had taken out her headphones, her expression was pleasant enough. She said something back and held out her hand which both Thalia and Annabeth shook. Annabeth asked her something and the girl's entire demeanor changed, she scowled at the pair of girls, her eyes, which Nico notices changed color every time she moved, flashed dangerously. She snapped something at the pair of girls and got up abruptly and stormed off toward the dorm area leaving Thalia and Annabeth standing at the tree shocked.

"I told you…" Nico said as the girls neared them again "Some people just want to be left alone…"

"I thought she was going to skin us alive… all we did was ask her what her ability was…" Annabeth muttered

"She's like a female, bi-polar Nico…" Thalia said

"Hey…"

"Well you know, some people don't think of their gifts as gifts…"

The kids looked up as Chiron came over; he looked at Annabeth and Thalia disapprovingly.

"I thought you'd understand when I didn't tell you her abilities that she wanted to keep them to herself, they brought her much pain… more than any of you have ever felt…" he looked at Nico "Well maybe not all…"

"Well Chiron you should have expected this type of curiosity, we're your top team, you never keep anything from us!" Annabeth said

"And I hoped you'd accept that it was something you didn't need to know when I didn't tell you… Nico is right, she wants to be left alone… and even though he's never met her I believe he understands her more than even I do and I've been in her mind." Chiron said sharply "Now I want you to leave her alone, she'll tell people when she's ready."

Chiron turned and left his Alpha team and Piper and Leo sitting at the picnic table. Annabeth looked like she might cry, and Thalia had her jaw clenched.

Percy hugged his girlfriend "Is that the first time you've ever been in trouble?" he asked skeptically

Annabeth just nodded, Thalia turned and stormed into the forest, literally, as she stomped away the sky darkened and lightning flashed. Nico sighed and looked at Jason, he nodded in understanding and ran after his sister.

"I warned you guys, but you're just as bad as Percy when he tried to become my friend… if you really want to befriend her you're going to have to pace yourselves. It took Percy months to get me to even talk to him… the only reason you guys didn't have to take it as slow as Percy is because I trusted Percy's judgment in people when he befriended you." Nico shook his head "This isn't something you can force…"

Annabeth glared at the dark haired boy "If you understand this so much why don't YOU try and become her friend."

Nico shrugged "Because, as I told Percy, I don't need any more friends."

And with that he headed back to his dorm.

Nico was lounged on his bed listening to _Numb_ by Linkin Park when there was a knock on his dorm door. He sat up confused and walked to his door, no one ever stopped by this end of the dorms, not even Percy, he preferred the area with the Lake view across the building. He pulled open his door to reveal the girl that had been sitting under the tree earlier, she looked nervous and embarrassed, she kept brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Um… hi…" Nico said blinking

"Hi… I'm Jade… I live across the hall from you… but… um… I was wondering if I could borrow your science notes… I saw you in the class… and I didn't understand anything the teacher said… Chiron told me you actually understand science and I tend to understand things better if I read them…" she said fidgeting

"Yeah… uh… sure… did you want to come in?" he asked

Nico wasn't really sure how to approach this situation, when Percy tried to befriend him he waited at the picnic table. Now this girl lived across the hall from him… wait… across the hall.

"Wait… did you saw you're in the room across the hall?" He asked stupidly after she stepped in

She nodded "I like things quiet… I'm not a big people person… before I came here I had exactly 7 friends, no more… maybe less. Chiron said no one likes coming down here but I find the quiet nice…"

"Oh…" he shook his head "Oh… yeah, science notes, one minute I'll get them."

Nico walked to the desk next to his stereo and started searching through his papers until he came across what he was looking for. He brought the notes back to Jade who was looking around his room. He handed them to her and her eyes widened when she saw them.

"Wow…" she mumbled "You have nice hand writing…"

"Ummm… Thanks… I guess…" he said uncertainly

Her eyebrow scrunched together in confusion as she read the notes. She pursed her lips and turned to leave Nico's room.

"Do you want help…" he asked her

She turned to face him "Are you serious?"

He nodded "Yeah it's kind of hard to understand… I mean, I don't think you're stupid… I'm gunna shut up now…"

She smiled "It's fine… I'd love some help… science has always been my worst subject…"

Nico found himself smiling back, he gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs and they spent the rest of the night until curfew studying physics. She was actually very nice, not at all as hostile as she had seemed when Annabeth and Thalia had questioned her. When she left Nico found himself wondering what could have possibly happened to make such a nice and shy girl so vicious when it came to her gifts.


End file.
